Running Bear's July 2025 Coffee Shop

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Good afternoon from Wisconsin. Haze from some Northern fires either USA produced or Canadian is filling the air, doesn’t matter but it’s thick. The haze does smell today. I did not make the trip to Hiawatha as I didn’t feel like heading out alone and was reminded I am playing grill chef tonight.

I took a bunch of pictures on the layout today for Front end Friday, here and on Facebook.

The main course for Friday night dinner is going to be a stuffed grilled cheese sandwiches. It is 2 big pieces of medium sliced sourdough bread, stuffed with Honey Crisp apple slices, mozzarella, Cheddar, carmelized onions and a Terry made herb Aioli from her herb garden. I will have bacon if someone wants it. Had this at a Madison neighborhood bar and grill last month but with Granny Smith apple slices and a different aioli. This was originally supposed to be Saturday dinner but was told this was happening tonight.

I am preparing to make 16 sandwiches cut in half all on the outdoor grill (tested Wednesday by the SIL) at the daughter’s new place and patio. Already prepped and in the cooler are 2 big smoked salmon trays to nibble on along with raw chilled shrimp and veggies. Dinner also will have 8 skewers of grilled shrimp, 2 fried walleye (for son’s g/f and SIL’s dad’s g/f) 6 double cheese burgers (grandson and 3 friends), 8 fried chicken strips (granddaughter) and 4 grilled chicken breasts. Also today are thick homemade hand cut steak fries with skins left on. All fried stuff today is in a light coconut oil. It’s sort of sweet but lightly flavored. Whatever greens Terry has left in her planter beds are being worked on right now. I sort of forgot the son was still coming this afternoon with his girlfriend. The SIL and his dad just left for the airport to pick them up. He was over Rockford when he called in, about 65 miles out. Plus the grandson and 3 of his friends, the SIL’s dad plus his girlfriend and 2 couples who are friends of the daughter and SIL. 17 of us tonight. Both the son and Frank the SIL’s dad will also help man the fryers as I grill. They are all here not only to eat but to finish with the move tomorrow and Sunday. I have plenty plus extras if needed. The wife keeps changing the Menu Board but I was told not to worry about it. Party time

Breakfast tomorrow will be here at 7am if you are in the neighborhood. Soon (Monday) Terry and I will have great silence in our home again.
 

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Howdy all. It's only 91 here today, a bit overcast with showers. Went to see my g'niece Nataley's first volleyball outing and got back a little while ago. Their's is a small school and there were much larger schools there. My girls lost both their games to much bigger teams but played well, they were just outgunned from the start. Was gonna hit Golden Corral for lunch but their AC was out, so went to Panda Express instead.
 
DeaconKC said:
Howdy all. It's only 91 here today, a bit overcast with showers. Went to see my g'niece Nataley's first volleyball outing and got back a little while ago. Their's is a small school and there were much larger schools there. My girls lost both their games to much bigger teams but played well, they were just outgunned from the start. Was gonna hit Golden Corral for lunch but their AC was out, so went to Panda Express instead.
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Panda Express- sounds good. The closest Chinese to us is 50 miles, don't get it very often.

I am grilling steak outdoors. Wife making a fancy salad. We like it simple.

Tom, you have your work cut out for you this evening!
 


bnsf971 said:
Hmm...
I'm sure there's nothing nefarious here...
I just tried checking my email, and the email provider has blocked my email app because it has too many users. But if I want to sign in using Outlook, it'll go right through.
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Outlook uses a different protocol from most generic email clients, IIRC.

Maybe your provider's IMAP server is overloaded because everybody is trying to use it, but the Outlook (Exchange?) server is fine because those who know about it prefer to run screaming for the hills. :)
 
insomniville said:
Outlook uses a different protocol from most generic email clients, IIRC.

Maybe your provider's IMAP server is overloaded because everybody is trying to use it, but the Outlook (Exchange?) server is fine because those who know about it prefer to run screaming for the hills. :)
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I think that's pretty close to what's happening. And of course, I was waiting for an identity verification email so I could get into my bank account.
 
Good evening everyone...........

I haven't posted lately, just been busy.

I just returned Wednesday afternoon (the 23rd) from an unplanned trip to South Carolina for 7 days. My sons mother (yes that would be my ex-wife) passed on July 8th. She was in her last week of a six week treatment period for cancer (radiation & chemo) of her lower left lung. however, she had a rough weekend before the 8th and went into the I C U Tuesday at 5 am and passed at 11 pm that night. My son and I traveled there so he could get some things his mother had that he wanted and her husband welcomed us as he is just a super person. He put us up and we had some time to visit and get out to see some scenery and just talk.
My 2008 Trailblazer did just fine on the trip. I put about 2,650 miles on the machine for a total of 114,850 miles on the odo now.
On the return trip home we stopped at a Bucees (my first time) to grab something to eat. I had the bar-b-que and was not disappointed.....very good.

Gotta put one of my vehicles in the shop next week. The 07 Chevy truck has a vibration that needs to be addressed.

Maybe some time in the train room as my order from Tam Valley came while I was out of town. My servo controller from BLOCK Signaling seems to have dropped one of my servos. I am not going to try to reset it as it is a process that uses just about all of my patience. I have 4 more of the BLOCK Signaling controllers that will go up for sale on ebay. I am just a little bit tired of being frustrated by electronic things that decide to take a $hit for no apparent reason.

I really need to start thinning out a lot of crap I have accumulated in my life so my son won't be totally over whelmed when I'm gone. All the legal stuff is done, just need to sort through the "junk". Better get busy.

Everyone have a great weekend........John
 


Kusojiji said:
I had been eyeing it for a while. The jungle site had it for 5300 yen, which comes out to $36. Yeah, over the budget for the month but couldn't help myself. Prime is good out here.
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You have to love Japanese N scale pricing...

Prime is darn cheap in Japan. Especially with the good USD. I have it monthly and it's about $4 or just above now. I've kept it active this year as my son is still in Hokkaido and I use it to send him stuff occasionally.

My daughter is in California for the "Junior Olympics" water polo tournament. her team is one of the few Utah teams that goes. We weren't able to go with her but she was able to go with another girl on the team and her family and I got her a hotel room and the girl she went down with is staying with her in the room.

They lost both games yesterday but won the first of two today if I understood the texts correctly. The California teams are at another level.

Tomorrow is the last full day, then one game Sunday morning and they'll drive back Sunday and be back late Sunday night. They're in Orange County for this tournament with games at various schools or rec centers in the area. Their hotel is near John Wayne airport.
 
The pic below is part of the Bingham Canyon Mine, formerly Kennecot Copper Mine, the world's largest open pit mine. You can see it from the ISS. The pic was taken about 1 block south and about 3 blocks east of my house. Parts of the auxiliary operations for the mins stretch along the foothills almost as far north as our development. I took this pic this morning on the way home from buying some cream cheese for my bagel and a stop at Home Depot to get some "building paper" to mask off the floor and stuff as we do some painting tomorrow and the next few weeks. (Baseboards etc).

The main mine is probably about 4-5 miles south but it is large so parts are probably closer and as I said, some aux parts snake along the foothills behind and just south of where we're at (we're in "foothills" but lower down -- in fact our part of the foothills is piled up dirt and debris from the mine from many many decades ago as I understand it). The pic looks closer than 4-5 miles and may be. That is just the part visible form the ground from where I live. It's much bigger.

en.wikipedia.org

Bingham Canyon Mine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

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Athletics' rookie first baseman, 22-year-old Nick Kurtz, hit four homeruns in last night's game (7/25/25) against Houston. In doing so he became only the twentieth player in MLB history, more than 240,000 MLB games, to hit four homeruns in a game and the first rookie to do it! A four-homerun game is rarer than a perfect game.

1753510279761.png



I can almost hear Mel Allen now, "How about that!"

This was so special I had to post it twice!
 
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Well, howdy there internet peeps, and those who think Keanu Reeves does the best "Yeaaaaaah!" in Hollywood.

It's Troy again.


Watched John Wick 3 last night. The dialogue is limited in that movie. Every recurring character with lines other than John Wick is damn good at the craft of acting. Ian McShane and Laurence Fishburne have limited screen time, but become their characters well. The actor who plays the adjudicator is a good mix of understated and firm. The boss you hate to see at your office door. Zero (the Japanese assassin) gave a good performance as the sycophantic "I'm a huge fan... but I'm going to kill you..."

Then I had problems getting to sleep. Finished the movie at 10 ish. Tried to go to bed, but my sciatica was acting up. So I rose about 11 to take an ibuprofen and hit the teeter table again. I'm going to need to get back to it 3/day instead of once or twice per day.

Spent yesterday building little toy soldiers. I might be selling off my human army to make up for it. I like painting the models, but once I find the flavor of how they play, I get disappointed.

The newest army is the walking dead. Byzantine flavour (late Roman after the capital moved to Constantinople).

Need to finish writing an article for the game blog. Check back in later.
 
Kusojiji said:
Just arrived. After I saw the picture posted earlier, I had to get the EF58. A lot of wheels to get on the track. :) 4-6-6-4 arrangement.

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I saw one of those on Feebay yesterday for $58 (new). I was very tempted, and had to talk myself out of it. I don't have anything other than North American stuff, and don't have any electric stuff. But $58 for a new Kato engine...
 


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